The Two-Parent Privilege: How the decline in marriage has increased inequality and lowered social mobility, and what we can do about it

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'A data-rich book that takes a close look at how deeply family structure influences both children's current well-being and their future academic and career prospects' - Wall Street Journal, Best Books of the Year

In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes. When two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a number of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children's lives and futures, Kearney offers an assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society - and what we must do to change course.

'Having two parents who are married to each other, Kearney argues, provides offspring with economic and social advantages. And by joining their particular strengths, a married couple can give their progeny more than the sum of their parts'- New Yorker, Best Books of the Year

Reviews

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'Kearney has written an extraordinary and deeply important book ... Highly recommended' - Tyler Cowen, George Mason University and author of Talent

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'Kearney has written a courageous, persuasive and profoundly important book. Our children will be better off if her compelling analysis of the benefits of two-parent families is widely heard and acted on' - Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard Kennedy School

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'The failure to speak honestly about how the decline in marriage is affecting both children and society is an issue Kearney addresses forthrightly in this fabulous book. Her analysis is trenchant, her common sense shines through, and her writing excels. This book may spark controversy, but in my view, it is right on the mark' - Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow, Brookings Institution and author of Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage

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'Among the many great advances that women have made since 1960, single-parenthood is not one of them. It's brutally challenging for mothers. It's epidemic among the families who can least afford it. And it deprives children of the economic and emotional resources that foster success in adulthood. This candid book by a superb scholar sets aside judgments and bromides to confront the urgent question of how we can do better by our children' - David Autor, MIT and author of The Work of the Future

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'Melissa Kearney is the economist who dares ... If we can keep reminding both high earners and low of the existence of the two-parent privilege, we may see a social revolution' - Cristina Odone, Spectator

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Author Bio

Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.